Personal Foul

Definition

A conduct- or safety-related infraction. Includes unnecessary roughness, such as hitting a ball carrier after he is already out of bounds, "piling on" a ball carrier who is already down, or violent contact with an opponent who is away from and out of the play. If the officials decide that the action was particularly flagrant, the player in question can be ejected from the game.

Caution: Many things people often think of as personal fouls are actually more specific penalties. This page only list things that officially went "in the books" as a Personal Foul. For example, though a ref may say "Personal Foul, Roughing the Passer" that penalty will not be on this page. It will be on the Roughing the Passer page.